


Raw, Unvarnished

by TheNordicAlien



Category: Choices: Stories You Play, Endless Summer (Visual Novel), PlayChoices
Genre: Choices, Destiny, F/F, F/M, Falling In Love, Fate, Free Will, Love, M/M, Other, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:49:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24115300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheNordicAlien/pseuds/TheNordicAlien
Summary: An answer given during a game of Truth threatens Taylor’s blossoming relationship, but help comes from an unlikely source. Written as part of the Tumblr Choices Creates Carnival - prompt: Soulmates.
Relationships: Taylor (Endless Summer) & Unspecified Love Interest (Endless Summer)
Kudos: 5





	Raw, Unvarnished

**Prompt: Soulmate  
Rating: T (mild references to nudity and premarital bed-sharing)  
No trigger warnings**

*

It was just a game of Truth. You'd played it a hundred times before - you'd even played it here, in this hotel, with this group. No big deal. If someone had told you beforehand that it would threaten the foundations of your relationship, you'd have laughed in their face.

You'd have been wrong.

It had been Craig who'd asked the question. It was a strangely thoughtful question for him - Craig's Truth questions usually involved embarrassing secrets that required copious amounts of alcohol to answer - but you'd caught the way his eyes briefly flickered to Zahra when he'd asked, and you understood his motivations.

You'd held back, being more interested in everyone else's answers. Some were exactly what you'd expected. Quinn and Sean believed - no surprise there, since they were probably the biggest romantics in the group. Michelle didn't believe, of course. She never believed in anything that she couldn't control. Grace and Aleister had both admitted shyly - Grace's eyes downcast, Aleister's cheeks bright pink - that they'd both changed their minds on that subject just recently, and it was clear to the entire room that their blossoming relationship was the cause of that change.

Zahra and Craig had both said no, but the wistful glances they shot each other had you convinced that neither of them were adhering to the spirit of Truth. Raj said yes, which fit his dippy hippy persona, but you'd found yourself wondering, not for the first - or even twenty-first - time, what sort of person would appeal to Raj. You didn't even know if he liked men, women, both, or neither.

Diego said he didn't know, which was probably the truth. He'd only started to come to terms with his sexuality recently, and you didn't think he'd really thought much about serious relationships. Lila avoided the question so neatly that you didn't think anyone else had even noticed that she hadn't answered. You'd observed lately that she did that a lot.

Jake and Estela - now, those had been surprises. You'd never pegged either of them for the type to believe.

Then again, you'd probably surprised most of the group too.

“No, I don't believe in soulmates.”

You'd shot your lover a glance as you answered, expecting a raised eyebrow or maybe a rueful grin, but the naked anguish on their face had shocked you. Remembering that pained look now, you gaze over at their back, sleek muscles and soft skin moving just barely with each breath. They'd come to bed with you, but hadn't wanted to talk, insisting nothing was wrong, and that they were just tired.

Tired. Sure. That's why they've been lying awake for the last four hours, while pretending to be asleep.

Hell. You knew you'd hurt them. You hadn't meant to, and hadn't expected to, but you'd known it the moment the words left your mouth. But what else could you have done? Lied? Evaded, like Lila? No. You're the group leader, dammit, and your integrity has to be unquestionable.

But that pained expression...it haunts you.

You need air. Cat-quiet, even though you know that tonight your lover would probably pretend to sleep through a mariachi band, you pull on shorts and a shirt and leave your bedroom. At this hour of the morning, the halls are deserted - even Iris isn't anywhere to be found - and you make it up to the roof without encountering anyone who might want to know why you left a gorgeous naked person curled up in your bed in favour of your own company.

Standing in the roof garden, watching the sky grow ever paler shades of lavender out of the endless indigo, you can finally breathe properly. But you still don't know what to say to your lover, and until you figure it out, you're better off hanging out up here, alone.

Except...you're not alone. The roof is deserted, but you can feel that brushing sensation at the edge of your mind. That can only mean one thing. Scanning the scenery with the binoculars you keep up there, you eventually spot a silhouette almost hidden at the edge of the jungle, and a glint of amber eyes that shine like a cat's.

_I can see you, you know._ Over the last few weeks, you've got better at this form of communication, though it'll probably always feel weird to you.

His mental voice is like a lightning bolt next to your spark, and you wince a little as his words enter your mind. _In time, you will come to us. You will save us all. It is your destiny._

_I will come to you because I choose to,_ you respond coolly. _Because it is the right thing to do. Because I care about the world and the people in it._

_But you will come,_ he thunders. _It was said that you would come, and so you will. It matters not if you think you have a choice._

_Choice always matters,_ you insist. _Our choices are what define us. I don't know any more what I am. I don't know whether I was born here like my file says, whether I've been lied to for my whole life. I don't even know if I'm fully human. But I know who I am, because I am who I choose to be. I am the sum of all my choices._

You receive no reply, and when you look back at the rapidly-lightening landscape, his silhouette has vanished into the trees. That's OK. You know what you want to tell your lover now.

Back in your room, you strip naked and climb into bed, curling yourself around their body and pressing your front to their back, soaking up their warmth.

“We need to talk.”

A heavy sigh, and then they're turning over to face you. In the dawn light, their face is full of shadows, and a glimmer in their eyes hints at repressed tears. You place a hand on their cheek, and lean forward to kiss them gently.

“I love you.”

“Do you?” Their voice is ragged, harsh, but with an underlying hope. “When you said that, last night? I thought you were sending a message that you don't feel the same way that I do about you. That you...” Their voice breaks, and you wait as they choke out their words. “That you...don't...love me.”

Wrapping your arms around them, you draw them close to your chest and wait patiently while they shudder, trying to hold back their tears. When they seem calmer, you speak.

“I won’t lie to you, not ever. It’s the raw, unvarnished truth. I don’t believe in soulmates.” They stiffen in your embrace, but you continue. “And if I did...would that really be such a good thing? If this twin flame thing exists, it’s something that’s thrust upon us by the universe. It might be comforting at first, to believe that the universe ensures that there’s one person who’s meant for you and that everything will unfold just as it should, whether or not we put effort into things or learn from our mistakes or...” you trail off, thinking about the apocalyptic vision given to you by the blue Watcher leader, before pulling yourself back to the moment. “But what does that say about _us,_ if we want everything, even our relationships, to be easy, rather than working for them?”

Some of the tension has left your lover’s back, so you press on. “Relationships take hard work and sacrifice, just like anything else that’s worth gaining. You work at them, and you make good choices sometimes, and you make bad choices sometimes, and you learn and forgive and are forgiven. And together, you build something strong and lasting, not some tenebrous universe-sanctioned bond that’s just handed to you out of nowhere, whether you’re mature enough to handle it or not.”

As you pull away from the steely grip of their encircling arms, you place your hands gently on the sides of your lover’s face, and force them to meet your gaze. “I love you. I _choose_ to love you. I choose to _keep_ loving you, even when things are hard. _That_ is what I believe in.”

Their smile is a little tremulous, and you see a tear stain or two, but their eyes are clearer, and there’s a new resolve in their face.

“I’m in this, 100%. Whether we have a day together, a few months, or eighty years. I’m all in.”

The day is birthing, and you don’t know what terrors it brings with it, but you will face them together. Hands clasped, you watch the sun rise.

**Author's Note:**

> 70% of this story was written in Spring 2017, when Book 1 of Endless Summer still had a few chapters to be released. I moved to China for the summer, and by the time I got back home the new information given to us in Book 2 had rendered parts of this story obsolete, and I couldn’t figure out how to fit it into the timeline, so I set it aside for close to 3 years, only to pick it up this year during quarantine.
> 
> In this story, the gang have met Varyyn and received the vision of the possible apocalypse, but the Watchers have not yet invaded the hotel and taken Diego. However, Taylor is already sharing a bed with their chosen partner. In light of that, I’m forced to conclude that this story takes place in a time-stretched universe where the gang spent several weeks preparing for the Watcher invasion, rather than a single night.
> 
> Time can be tricky like that, I hear.


End file.
